History

They began showing up at Washington liquor stores in July, and at grocery stores, and convenience stores, looking like they were preparing for a beer run a la Smokey and the Bandit. One man bought 22 cases of Olympia stubbies.

Should beer be brewed at source or is it acceptable for brewers to replicate famous brands far from the breweries of origin? American readers may think this an arcane subject for discussion, as the sheer size of the United States means that many brands have to be produced in more than one location.

Every week, it seems, we read about another health study that reveals that moderate drinking can lower blood pressure, reduce cholesterol, prevent dementia, etc. In February, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB)—the new agency that was established to take over the ATF’s regulatory functions—ruled that manufacturers of alcoholic beverages may print these... View Article

Like it or not, taxes are a fact of life (or death, as some would say). They have been imposed on citizens by governments for centuries, and breweries and their beers have long been a favorite tap for government revenue.

America is dotted with the corpses of old breweries. You might have passed them while driving through some forgotten inner-city neighborhood: brick-and-mortar behemoths, four to five stories high, sometimes with gaps in the wall where copper brewkettles and other objects of value were extracted.

The old saying that only lawyers get rich has never been more true where the protracted legal wrangles between Anheuser-Busch in the United States and Budweiser Budvar in the Czech Republic are concerned.

It’s the end of the line for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms as that agency has existed for the last 30 years. Under the terms of the homeland security bill passed by the US Senate, the ATF’s law enforcement functions—including most of its “bombs and bullets” operations—will be transferred to the US Justice... View Article

Anger and disbelief have greeted the news that W. H. Brakspear, one of England’s finest pale ale brewers, is to close by the end of the year. Brakspear, based in an idyllic location by the River Thames in Henley, Oxfordshire, is thought by many to be more concerned with realizing the inflated value of its... View Article

If you’re a regular reader of this magazine, it probably makes your blood boil whenever some neo-Prohibitionist equates beer with crack cocaine or blames your favorite beverage for all of society’s ills. How do you respond when some anti-alcohol think tank calls for doubling the beer tax or restricting beer advertising?